- Kraken will stop trading of privacy coin monero for UK customers this month, according to an email last week.
- By November 26, UK users will no longer be able to open or add to positions in monero.
- A Kraken spokesperson said the exchange was responding to guidance from the UK regulator.
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Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken will stop UK customers from trading in privacy crypto coin monero from next week, according to a company email that was shared on Reddit last week.
The email stated that by November 26, UK users would no longer be allowed to trade monero (XMR) on its platform against bitcoin, the dollar or the euro. Any deposits in the UK will no longer be credited after this Friday, but the balances can be withdrawn from that date to a personal wallet or another exchange, the email said.
Any open margin positions should be closed by Friday and if they are not they will be liquidated and any open orders will be cancelled, Kraken said in the email.
People will also only be able to reduce margin positions in monero and won't be able to increase or open new margin positions from this Tuesday.
A Kraken spokesperson said the company was sticking to guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK financial markets regulator.
"The UK FCA recently clarified a position on monero. As one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, we are constantly working to balance offering one of the most comprehensive sets of assets available to crypto investors and traders, with all applicable regulatory compliance obligations," the spokesperson said in an emailed response on Monday.
"In this case, the FCA provided clear guidance and we have responded accordingly."
Monero is a privacy coin which means that through advanced cryptography, these coins can obscure public wallet addresses and payments when transactions occur on the blockchain. The identity of people that make privacy coin transactions is hard to trace digitally.
Privacy coins like monero are a variety of cryptocurrency used in private and anonymous blockchain transactions that can hide a user's real wallet address and balance, for example. Blockchain's like bitcoin or ethereum let anyone see the public addresses and transactions that take place on their systems. Crypto exchanges are increasingly cautious over privacy coins, especially given the growing scrutiny from regulators.
Bittrex said at the beginning of this year that it would stop clients trading privacy coins, including monero, dash and zcash. In July last year, Coinbase, the largest publicly listed exchange, said it would hold off for the time being on listing privacy coins, given the regulatory uncertainty surrounding these assets. Meanwhile, Binance, the world's largest exchange by volume, still offers trading in monero.